Red Letter Day
Friday, April 13, 2007
An eight-year-old’s memory of a painful family experience won her a state writing award.
Grayce McAllister, whose family lives not far from Americus, took a first place award in this year’s Kansas Letters About Literature writing contest. She was formally recognized Thursday night at a ceremony in Topeka.
The contest asked Kansas schoolchildren to write to an author, explain how the author's book had affected their own life, and then enter the letter in the contest. So Grayce decided to write Susan Wojciechowski, author of “The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.” The book has been a family favorite among the McAllisters since 2002, but Grayce had a more personal reason for choosing the title.
In the book, Wojciechowski’s main character is a widowed man,who lost both wife and child to a miscarriage. That struck a chord with Grayce -- her own mother, Melissa McAllister, had miscarried a daughter in 2004. The girl was supposed to be born on Grayc’s birthday.
“I was sad, sad, gloomy, gloomy after my mother miscarried my little sister,” Grayce wrote in her letter. “I knew how Mr. Toomey felt when his tiny baby died.”
“We talked about it for a long time,” her mom said.
The book, however, ends on a note of hope with Jonathan Toomey laughing out loud. Grayce’s story also had a good next chapter -- just a year later, she got to be with her mother as another baby sibling came into the world. Now Grayce wants to be a labor and delivery nurse.
“...I now understand that you do not have to be ‘Mr Gloomy’ when something is very sad,” she wrote in her letter. “I didn't serve others when I was gloomy and had a pity-party attitude during my parents’ loss.”
Judge William Karnowski, in written comments, called the letter “wonderfully honest and personal.”
Grayce’s parents, Melissa and Lynn McAllister, home-school their children. Most have had to write their first story at age six, which gets framed and preserved, complete with spelling and grammar errors. The tradition began with an older brother of Grayce’s who is now in his third year at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
“He spells a little better now,” joked Lynn McAllister.
The parents heard about the contest through other home-schooling families. Grayce wrote the letter in December.
The contest is a program of the Library of Congress’s Center for the Book, with the winners nominated by a group of judges and then chosen by the Kansas State Librarian. The Target chain is also a sponsor of the program.
More than 1,400 students from fourth grade through 12th submitted letters. Gayle took first in Level I, which covers fourth through sixth grade. Level II, for grades eight and nine, was won by Francesca Hutton of Wichita for her letter to Daniel Handler, better known as Lemony Snicket, the author of “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” Level III, the high school competition, was won by Jamie Allen of Ottawa for a letter to the late Dr. Suess (Theodor Geisel) about “Oh, The Places You’ll Go.”
The winners get a certificate, a cash award and a $50 Target gift card.
It all makes for a nice early birthday present for Grayce, who turns 9 on Wednesday. And then, at some point during the year, it’ll come time to read the story again. Especially that laugh on the final page.
“They can't wait to get to that part of the story,” Melissa McAllister said.